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Friday, September 13, 2013

The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) is a popular harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese. The festival is held on 15th day of the eight month (八月十五) in the Chinese calendar, which fall on the September month this year. I believe many of us will be busy making their homemade mooncakes at home, especially those who appreciate the traditionally made mooncakes.

This year I am going to venture into something different. My first attempt in making jelly mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn festival celebration. I was inspired by those attractive, bright and colourful jelly mooncakes on the web and of course those selling in the stalls. I wouldn’t know how easy to make jelly mooncakes until I gave it a try. I hooked into it after making this pandan jelly mooncake! Subsequently I have also made gula melaka (palm sugar) with coconut jelly mooncakes and mango jelly mooncakes.

My mother in law used to tell me if you want to produce a concentrated and full of fragrant pandan juice, you have to exercise your arm muscles by pounding the pandan leaves with mortar and pestle. Then, squeeze the juice out with a cloth sieve. Believe me or not the fragrant smell of the pandan juice fills the whole house during the process. The green colour of the pandan juice is so attractive! It is definitely worth it! However, to achieve fragrant and concentrated pandan juice you have to choose those long pandan leaves in dark green colour. I still find my jelly mooncake is not green enough after mixing with coconut milk, but the taste is superb!(*wink)

My family and friends love it to bits, it gives them the satisfaction on each bites, chilled! I will definitely make more jelly mooncakes and tag along with me to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with my mom next week.

Method:
1. In a pot, add water, castor sugar and jelly powder. Mix well. Bring to a boil until sugar is dissolved.
2. Lower the fire, add in fresh milk and evaporated milk. Simmer for awhile. Off the fire.
3.Pour in 4 small plastic containers. The filling’s height should be around 2 cm (adjust accordingly to suit your jelly mooncake moulds).
4. Leave it to cool, then chill in the fridge until further use.

Method:
1. Prepare the pandan juice by cutting the leaves into small strips using scissors, pound the leaves with some water by using a mortar and pestle batch by batch.
2. Put it in a cloth sieve (coffee cloth sieve), add in water and squeeze out the pandan juice. Repeat until you get 100ml of pandan juice. Set aside.
3. In a pot, add water, castor sugar and jelly powder. Mix well. Bring to a boil and stirring until sugar is dissolved.
4. Lower the fire, sieve the pandan juice again while pouring it into the pot, then pour in thick coconut milk. Stir well and bring it to a boil for few seconds. Off the fire. Cool it a little.
5. Pour a thin layer of the jelly into the mooncake moulds, approximately 0.5 cm. Leave it for awhile until it is half set. (Do not wait too long)
6. Remove the filling from container, then put the filling in the middle on top of the thin layer. Pour in pandan jelly until the mould is full. Repeat with the rest.
7. Leave the jelly mooncakes to cool, then chill it in the fridge at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove the jelly from the moulds and enjoy!

Note:
• Choose dark green and long pandan leaves for strong flavour and taste.
• You may add a drop of green food colouring liquid to the skin mixture if you prefer a darker green jelly mooncakes but I would prefer it to be natural.
• If you want a quick way to produce the pandan juice, you may just blend the pandan leaves with 100ml water, then squeeze the juice out. But the flavour and taste may vary.
• You may also prepare the pandan juice in advance and keep in it the fridge until further use.
• When you are done with the first press of 100ml pandan juice, you may add water in the cloth sieve to get a 370ml second press of pandan juice. This will add in more flavour and greener colour to your pandan jelly mooncakes.